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Castro Ventosa • ‘El Castro de Valtuille’ Mencia Joven • 2013 Bierzo, Spain
What is it? Mencia is a native Spanish grape variety that was once thought to be a relative of Cabernet Franc. Joven refers to the fact that this is a young, fresh, and fruity wine. This is in contrast to other important Spanish bottling terms like Reserva and Gran Reserva which will indicate that the wine has been aged in oak. Who makes it? Castro Ventosa (est. 1752) is a estate owned by the Perez family. They are the largest landowners of Mencia vines in the region. Raul Perez represents the current generation of this estate. Raul is one of the most vocal, daring, and important contributors to modern Spanish wine. He’s experimental, uncompromising, and visionary. What we like. Where does it come from? Bierzo is in the north west of Spain just off the tip of the northern Portuguese border. What does it taste like? This is a dry, medium bodied wine that is all about freshly crushed fruit. It evokes summer blackberries and black raspberries. It has a touch of a green streak – almost as if you chomped a blackberry leaf during your fresh fruit forage. The profile is so luminous and vibrant that is reminds me of the neon colours of green and purple under a black light. If this wine were shoes, these would be them: Is it Classic? No. Mencia is still too fringe and unknown. It is important to Spain as it represents their most exciting emerging style, but I would speculate that this one will be forever a bridesmaid to the more famous Spanish regions of Rioja and Ribera del Duero. What should I eat with it? Succulent, juicy proteins. Think of this wine like the berry compote that covers a spice duck breast. Or a wild berry jus over a roasted squab. Or Venison for that matter. This fresh and quenching profile would serve as such a great accompaniment to mildly gamey meats. But as we tasted together in the sessions, this is just a damn delightful wine to sip on its own as well. I would happily sit and sip a carafe of this and wax poetic about the recent sports news or political debacle. Sommelier says: “I’ve never been to Spain so my conclusions are happily challenged by those who know otherwise. But I imagine that the place is fairly hot. It certainly communicates that heat in the vast majority of the wines that it is best known for. Spanish wines never have the chilly acidity of French wines or the gastronomic texture of Italian wines. It often feels like Spain is the newest of the old world because a lot of their wines are so driven by fruit, richness, and heat (elevated alcohol). Enter Mencia. There is a very good reason why this is considered the most exciting style to emerge from Spain right now. It’s fresh, it’s lively, it’s vibrant, it’s quenching. It has a lovely vitality. Drink up, this is delicious.” - JY